Surfactant formulations for multi-functional surface modification

Surfactant formulations based on derivatives of Pluronic® F108 and SDS have been proposed which are capable of modifying polymer surfaces for both biospecific ligand binding and surface regeneration. Planar, non-porous polysulfone, poly(ether imide) and poly(vinylidene fluoride) membranes were fabricated as solid adsorption matrices for non-covalent pluronic surface modification and SDS regeneration. Pluronic surfactants are poly(ethylene oxide)x–poly(propylene oxide)y–poly(ethylene oxide)x (PEOx–PPOy–PEOx) tri-block copolymers, that self-assemble onto hydrophobic surfaces via the hydrophobic PPO centre block, while the longer hydrophilic PEO chain forms a flexible tether that terminates in a functional hydroxyl moiety. In this study, the terminal hydroxyl group has also been targeted for the covalent attachment of ligands. The amphiphilic non-ionic surfactant pluronic F108, was covalently derivatised to form novel ligands (halide and thiol derivatives for surface analysis), pluronic–biotin as a biochemical sensor and pluronic–DMDDO for metal chelation. The surface functionalised polymers described can also be re-used with an SDS based regeneration formulation.